In My Projects

So I've decided that this is where I'm gonna dump my essay projects that i finish for english. that way the world can see one day, what a gigantic retard i was. so here's one I wrote on half a bottle of nyquil and zero sleep.

I n t e g r i t y,

This is a word that has been going in and out of my mind for the past while. When we think about the definition of integrity in the ethical sense, it seems to be more of an emotional reaction rather than a clear understanding of what it means. We easily recognize integrity in those we think exemplify it in their behavior. But can we really deliver a clear definition of it? And how well would our definitions or ideas hold up when pressed with the Socratic Method? It seems that our definitions of integrity only have the strength of the integrity within us.

Integrity extends to probably all areas of life. I say probably because I can’t think of an area that it does not have some significance, but that doesn’t mean that somewhere an area does not exist for it. In major fields of professionalism we can think of that integrity comes into play, such as politics, law, business, art, music, writing, even mathematics (although the definition of it there has nothing to do with morality) it has to come from within the soul of a person. When I say the soul, I don’t exactly mean in the religious sense, but in a sense that it has to have a certain sense of passion steeped into the actions of the person. A politician, when making choices and dealing with other leaders in the government must be consistent in the way he deals with everything. If a politician portraits oneself to be a non-partisan fighting for the citizens, yet panders to one side of the government or other and works to deceive their constituents while they act to further corruption on behalf of corporations or whatever, we would deem that politician to be dishonest, have no integrity, and therefore have a corrupted soul. And if you compare that to a virtuous politician, it can be an almost spiritual experience through their ability to unite people behind his ideals and causes.

To be completely devoid of integrity is a truly terrible thing to endure and I could only see it as a curse of the spirit. But what about those whom have the ability to speak with conviction about what they believe and how they feel but their integrity, and they can even truly believe in their convictions, yet can’t stand to the pressures from the supposed real world? This is the real dilemma that most humans face in life. Perhaps my view on the subject is a bit too idealistic for the world of politics, but how does it apply to other areas? How about music? Musicians are always getting into arguments and rivalries over who came out with this sound or that, or who was the first to play an instrument this way or that. Who’s biting whom and who does it better. Integrity comes into play here because it’s undeniable that certain “artists” take certain liberties with the sounds of others. Do you have soul? This is a similar scenario with a different set of implications. I would say that it even has a definite purpose within the art form. I think it helps move music forward and encourages the true artists to take it to the next level where the perpetrators can’t follow. In the birth of hip hop in the Bronx back in 79, nobody could have imagined the full scope it would hold today. But if it hadn’t been for a group of down town fakesters taking the sound and bringing it to a national audience, would the true originators have gotten it together to take their local culture and bring the truth to the people? Since they saw that hip hop didn’t just have to be local parties and BBQs in the BX and that there was a national and world wide audience for it they were able to solidify there presence as the true artists in history. In this aspect, artistic integrity and the lack there of worked together in a way for the greater good of music and set the precedent for the next chapter of music the world over.

I truly believe that integrity is the most important virtue. It is the ground point for all other virtues. Loyalty, honesty, respect, justice, etc are all derivatives of integrity. It is the catalyst that drives each feeling forward and gives those virtues the sense of conviction that is necessary in putting humanity into action.